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3 Ways Probiotics Can Help You Lose Belly Fat

Probiotics are best defined as a type of good bacteria. When the bad bacteria outweigh the good, a number of health issues may occur, such as weight gain, constipation, skin problems and even chronic health issues. To help the good bacteria flourish, you can take advantage of probiotics. These have been shown to not only enhance your total well-being but to also be highly beneficial for weight loss and reducing belly fat. Learning more about how probiotics do this is imperative to proper use so that you reap the benefits.

Reduced Fat Absorption

When your body absorbs less fat, there is less fat for it to store. Less stored fat means less overall fat for a reduction in belly fat, as well as other areas of fat in the body. Probiotics help to reduce how much fat the body absorbs in two ways:

You absorb less fat from what you are eating

Fat cell number and size decreases in your body

Both of these effects are largely associated with fat molecules increasing in size when you use Lactobacillus gasseri, a type of probiotic. This probiotic suppresses the release of fatty acids by increasing the size of fat emulsions. It also plays a role in encouraging fecal fat excretion. Overall, the impact of these effects helps you to lose fat in your body and decrease how much fat your body essentially derived from food and holds onto. The end result is less total body fat and a reduced risk of gaining weight and additional body fat.

Obesity-Linked Hormones Are Positively Affected

Your hormones and obesity are closely linked, so if there is an issue with your hormones, there is a higher likelihood that you will have excess body fat and be overweight. Butyrate is a type of short chain fatty acid that plays a role in the release of the hormone GLP-1. This is a type of satiety hormone and when you increase the levels in your body, you are inclined to eat less because your appetite will be reduced.

Increasing the levels of this hormone also helps your body to burn more fat and your body will have a higher resting energy expenditure, allowing for improved calorie burning during periods of rest. Numerous probiotics can help to increase GLP-1 release in the body:

Bifidobacterium longum

Lactobacillus acidophilus

Lactobacillus paracasei

Streptococcus thermophilus

Bifidobacterium breve

Bifidobacterium infantis

Lactobacillus plantarum

Lactobacillus bulgaricus

Decreased Fat Storage

Your body’s ability to store fat can be altered to help reduce your total body fat. One way to accomplish this is by increasing the angiopoietin-like 4 levels that are circulating in your body. This is a protein that is also referred to as ANGPTL4 and it is responsible for regulating how many triglycerides are able to accumulate in fatty tissue. Triglycerides are the primary fat type that stores itself in the belly and hips. When the body breaks down the fat from what you are eating, triglycerides are the end product.

The probiotics Bifidobacterium longum and Lactobacillus paracasei can help to increase ANGPLT4 levels in the body. This may help to reduce how much fat your body is storing in the belly, hips and elsewhere.

Lactobacillus rhemnosus: This probiotic is sometimes dubbed the best one for reducing fat. A study followed overweight women and men over the course of 12 weeks on a diet and for 12 additional weeks where they were to maintain their weight. The women who took this probiotic were shown to have lost about double the weight compared to the women who did not receive any probiotics during the study.

Lactobacillus gasseri: One study concluded that those who took this probiotic experienced a reduction in both belly fat and weight. In fact, after 12 weeks, the weight loss was about 8.5 percent of their total weight.

Lactobacillus amylovorus and fermentum: Over a six-week study, participants who ate yogurt that contained at least one of these probiotics lost about three to four percent of their body fat.

Those seeking to lose belly fat and drop a few pounds can see that what they eat and the supplements that use are incredibly important. Probiotics are proven to be an important player in reducing the amount of fat in the abdominal area. The key is to choose the right ones and utilize them regularly for the best results.